Agenda item

Phil Morgan, Research Manager for Wiltshire Council, gave a presentation regarding the 2011 Census. 

A Census had been carried out every ten years since 1801, with the exception of 1941.  The gathering of information regarding the population of every town, village and street was key for allocating resources and planning the investment in and provision of public services.  Accurate information was also important for local authorities, as the population figures were used by central government to allocate the Revenue Support Grant (RSG) funding.  By way of example, Manchester City Council estimated that they lost 10,000 people from the 2001 Census, and estimated that this would cost the authority £100 million in lost RSG funding over the past 10 years.

It was anticipated that the 2011 Census would show a number of significant changes from the 2001 figures, including an ageing population with around 25% more over-85s than in 2001.  An increase in the complexity of family structures was also envisaged, along with higher numbers of gated communities.

There was concern that recent press coverage of breaches of personal information held by government departments and agencies would impact on people’s confidence in the security of the census information.  As such, people may be less inclined to complete the required information accurately.

The Census would be completed by questionnaires which would be delivered to every address in the Country.  Each household would then be responsible for completing the form based on those people present in the house on the day of the Census – 27 March 2011.  The form could also be submitted online. The data from the questionnaires would then be processed and quality assured, before the statistics would be generated and published.

However, it was possible that the 2011 census was likely to be the last conducted in the traditional way.  Other methods were now used by other countries; for example the USA used administrative data sets (such as Doctors registers) then applied mathematical formulae to estimate population and demographic figures.

The key message regarding the Census was to encourage everyone to respond accurately and to offer assistance to those who might need it.  There would be a high level of national advertising at the time of the Census, some people would remain hard to reach (for example residential boating community, and migrant workers).  Parish Councils and local organisations were requested to share their local knowledge and let the Census team know about any areas which might be missed.  It was emphasised that this was not to “catch” people, but to avoid missing out on the data.

Help was also needed in the form of paid work, details of which were available online and in the leaflets at the meeting.

Another way in which Parish Councils could help was through holding drop-in census completion events in their communities.

The Chairman thanked Phil for the presentation and invited questions and comments:

·         In relation to the security of the online system, it was explained that the system had been designed as one of the most secure IT systems ever.  This issue had received particular care and investment due to the high-profile cases of data loss by government departments.

·         A query was raised regarding people who would be out of the country on 27 March.  Phil explained that people would have around three months to reply and so, provided they would be back within that period, they could count towards the final Census figures.  Separate arrangements would be in place for people in hospital or in prisons on 27 March.

·         It was suggested that the Census team liaise with the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust regarding the itinerant boating community.